no workshop

I was planning a workshop on projection art as part of the Projections show at the MacKenzie Art Gallery for this Saturday but there were not enough participants so they just canceled it. On one hand, I didn't feel quite ready enough. My notes are in disarray and my materials are not yet collected. However, I have already done as much as I've not done, that is to say, I have been writing notes and going to talks and thinking about stuff and skimming through books and buying materials, so it's a shame I'm not using it. I suppose I'll work it into my experimental film course this fall.

306

Another busy day, I worked with Eric again this morning and we set up a new rear screen I built and shot the 15 minutes of Warhol video onto the film stock that luckily arrived at 9:15 am. I think it went very well, although only after processing will I know. This afternoon I worked on the three new videos for Youtube, one is posted. Eric helped me shoot the keyed shot against the sky, although there were other objects behind me when we shot. I used a clip with me off frame as a difference map and was able to remove all the trees and so on, although parts of my legs did disappear too due to the fact I was wearing blue jeans and they matched the sky colour. This evening was a really good artist talk at the MacKenzie with Kent Monkman. Totally worthwhile. I'm only sorry that the paintings he showed slides of in his talk are not a part of the show. They were responses to 19th century romantic landscape paintings but with homoerotic cowboys and Indians featured within. He showed an 11 minute film that took a fun stab at deconstructing the western film and the relationships between aboriginal people and the presumptuous European colonizers. Saw Adam Budd, he's in town helping Lea shoot a new film this spring. Talked with Alan Dotson for a while. It was a diverse crowd but certainly containing a high proportion of the established art crown. We didn't stay too late because Margaret's mom took William to Horton Hears a Who at the new Rainbow theatre, which is apparently in the back of the Rainbow indoor mini-golf place up on the north end.

Lucky day

We attended the opening of my son William's first show at the MacKenzie Art Gallery today. He was displaying his recent sketches and mixed media sculptures developed during his "artist retreat" this week. One critic was misheard to describe the show as "divine".